When Stars Collide

Chapter 36- Bite and no bark - Estella

When Ioannis’s eyes finally open, he stares and reaches for me. When I get close, he wraps me in a hug. The tears that slide down my cheek hit him and he rubs my head while he comforts me. I look at him, and gingerly pass a hand by the scars on his arm because no way I’d try to touch the ones on the rest of his body.

“I-I didn’t k-know it was t-this serious,” I blubber out and he pats my head.

“Estella, it’s okay. Where’s Leo?” he asks me and I roll my eyes. 

Great. I wish he would have forgotten about him for at least one second. I could’ve gotten more attention. That quickly gets interrupted when Meena enters the room and crushes him in a hug. 

“Io!! I’m glad you’re back with us!” she claps her hands and he smiles at her.

“Meena, thanks for letting me crash here. I know you and Z-”

“Don’t worry about it. You would’ve done the same for us,” Z sad when he enters the room and we all fall silent, the two staring at each other. I know I’m not the only one who senses the elephant in the room that nobody wanted to address. Meena clears her throat and shrugs.

“Basically what Z said. Maia and Leo just got here, we also have a phoenix and it’s so cool I think I’m going to scream!!” she screeches at us, her excitement infectious and making me smile.

Meena Kostas was what I called an optimistic thief. While many were shrouded in their ambition and greed to be rich (like us), people like Meena thrived to be happy and to see everything in a positive light. She was too idealistic for my own good and as she smiles at me sweetly, I frown at her. I didn’t exactly like her, but Leo and Ioannis adored her for her quirky attitude and she did get us a safe place to crash in.

I suppose I must be grateful, somehow. She leaves the room and calls for Leo and Maia and when the two enter the room, he brightens up when he sees them.

“You’re okay!” he tells them and Maia looks at him and all the scars. She’s just as surprised as I am and when she stares at me, she wraps me up in a hug.

“Glad to see you too, Estella.” I nod and try to swallow the knot of emotion clogging my throat. I honestly was beginning to like Maia more and she wasn’t so mean to me anymore which seemed like progress. When she sits with Ioannis on the bed, she stares at his scars and he blushes, pulling the blanket up more.

“Sorry for the-”

“Don’t apologize for the scars. You never deserved any of these. I swear, I’m killing that woman if I find her,” Maia vowed and I wanted to hug her.

“Even if she’s Magelion’s mother?” Jamie saunters into the room and she whirls around, looking scared and he smiles at her.

“I…” she trails off and Ioannis looks at him.

“The Harbinger was looking for you.” he points at Jamie and everyone falls silent. Because he wasn’t supposed to see him or even know anything of him. If he knew that… What else did he know? Did that mean he was much closer to death than we all thought?

“How do you know? Lucas wouldn’t-”

“He asked me if I knew anything. That was before Skylar crashed down with Eris, Magelion and Yia Yia, who turned out to be a freaking goddess!” he yells at us and Leo looks at him as if he finally lost his screws.

“Y-you were in the spirit realm?” Leo asks him and when Ioannis finally snaps, he raises his hands and points at Maia.

“Yes! I found out why we truly believed in the gods and why the hell they never cared about us! We’re all just pawns to their game!”

Maia narrows her eyes at Ioannis and moves closer.

“I don’t know what Lucas told you, but that isn’t true. I had made it my own duty to take care of the mortals. My mother did that job before and so, we used Atalan’s grace to overlook their lives, as a way to breach the gap and be of assistance and-”

Oh, goddess. Did Maia know she was digging her own grave with that confession? To  confess such a thing to Ioannis, out of all people was like me admitting that I hated the dark. It was something we never needed to confess. He pushes the blanket and tries to get up and almost crashes onto the ground when both Z and Leo grab hold of him.

“To manipulate us. Is that it, Maia?” he asks her and the goddess genuinely looks like she’s gonna cry. Or that she’s going to squeeze the life out of him. I’m not entirely sure anymore.

“Ioannis. I promise you I’m not like my mother. I-I know about your sickness,” she tells him and the life seems to seep out of him in that statement. He hobbles out of the room and Maia follows him out, calling after him. Leo grabs her arm and pulls her back. 

“I’ll talk to him, Maia.” she looks at him and sighs, letting go and he leaves, charging after him. I watch him leave and roll my eyes. Why did I feel like the tension between those two would only rise more? I sit down on Ioannis’s bed and look at the glass bullet.

These bullets were from Evangeline. Which meant she was hunting Ioannis for her own reasons. Sanderran was the killer everyone was looking for, but how would we help Maia get rid of him for good? When a black eagle flies in the window, Skylar looks around the room and points at me.

“Where is he?” I’m about to answer when Maia cuts me off.

“You have things to explain.”

“Such as?” Skylar demands and when the goddess pins Skylar against the window, she wheezes when she grabs Skylar by the neck. Skylar places her hands on Maia’s hand, trying to turn her hand into ashes and when her arms throw little sparks, me and Meena step back, scared that the goddess will light up the place.

“Ioannis is dying. Magelion was here and the Harbinger has his nose in this. Where is Yia Yia? The answers or you will pay dearly, Skylar.” The grim reaper bares her teeth at Maia and shoves her, unleashing her scythe and she points it at Maia’s heart.

“Try to kill me and I will slice you in half,” Maia only smiles at her.

“I want to see you try.” When Skylar launches herself at Maia, the goddess summons a wind tornado and the two immediately disappear, the white veil she always carries on the floor. Jamie looks at us, worried and he shifts into his phoenix form.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” I ask him, blocking the window and he cocks his head at me.

“Precisely to hell. That’s not my problem,” he says and when he begins to fly, Meena grabs her star clip and throws it at him and when it hits its target, the electricity shocks him. He collapses onto the floor, seeing stars while Meena shuts the window. She kneels down and smiles at him.

“I don’t think you’re going anywhere,” she tells him gleefully and then she looks at me and grins wider, causing me to shiver.

“Help me tie him up?”

And the tension is boiling.

Ioannis is having a crisis of faith, but will Leo be able to sway him or will it lead to more trouble. Maia and Skylar disappeared as the two keep threatening each other and does that mean that she'll have one less ally in her quest and why is Jamie so desperate to escape? Whose side is he really on and is he an ally or a traitor?
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